Shinichi Kudo: Signed, sealed and delivered
by perfectly flawed woman
Summary: Shinichi Kudo has been set up! Instead of being welcomed in Japan by family friends, he's picked up from the airport by a lone, strikingly gorgeous stranger. Kaito Kuroba doesn't know what to expect from his contract partner-to-be. KaiShin/ShinRan past


Hi everyone. While I'm working out on Blackmail, this idea came into my mind.

Tell me if I should proceed or not :)

This is pretty short, 2645 words.

I'm still thinking for the perfect title so I'll leave it here for now.

Summary: Shinichi Kudo has been set up! Instead of being welcomed in Japan by family friends, he's picked up from the airport by a strikingly gorgeous stranger...

Kaito Kuroba doesn't know what to expect from his contract partner-to-be. But it certainly isn't the good looking Shinichi, or the combustible attraction that sizzles between them. Perhaps there might be an upside to this ridiculous arrangement?

Pairings: ShinRan[past] KaiShin[present] KaiAo[past]

Genre: AU

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**MEET AND GREET**

_'Unfortunately, a marriage license doesn't come with a job description or a set of instructions. There is definitely "some assembly required." In fact, putting together a modern-day marriage can be likened to assembling an airplane in flight.'_

**oOoOoOo**

Shinichi leaned over the balcony rail and contemplated plunging into the sea. Serve Kaito Kuroba right if he was found floating face down. He'd have to look elsewhere for a partner. But though summer heat shimmered on the afternoon air, Tokyo Harbor looked deep and chill, and he edged back. Knowing his parents had died in those restless waters didn't make them any more appealing. He could be eaten by sharks!

The view was spectacular, he supposed, even after the heart-stopping beauty of Los Angeles, but it all felt remote to him. His joy in coming back to Japan had withered. He felt as alien as he ever had in any foreign place. Incredible to think he was born here.

He turned back into his hotel suite and sank onto the bed's luxurious coverlet, reaching listlessly for the tour brochure that had sucked him in. The Minakami. How thrilled he'd been, how excited. The sad joke was there never had been any such pleasures intended for him. He was here to be chained to the bed of a stranger.

Unless he ran. The minuscule hope reared again in his heart. This Kaito Kuroba had failed to meet his plane. Maybe he'd changed his mind?

The phone rang and he nearly jumped out of his skin. Chris, ringing to apologise for the trick and tell him to come home? Explain about the mistake with the hotel booking?

It was Reception. 'Good afternoon, Kudo-kun, you have a visitor. A Kuroba Kaito-san. Do you wish to meet him in the lobby, or shall I give him your room number?'

'No.' His heart had jolted out of its niche but he gasped, 'I'll come down.'

With a shaking hand he replaced the phone. He would just have to tell Kuroba he was Shinichi Kudo, an American citizen, not a commodity to be traded in some deal.

He struggled on with his jacket. His face was paler than his brown hair, his eyes the dark blue they looked when he was angry, or afraid.

His legs felt numb. On the way down in the lift he tried to quell his nerves with some positive thinking. Courage was all that was needed. America was a civilized country. People couldn't be forced here. In fact, he was curious to see what sort of man would sink so low as to barter for a partner in the twenty-first century. Was he so old he was locked in the traditions of the past? So repulsive as to have no other choice?

Anyway, he was brave. He would refuse. After all, he was the notorious groom who'd left the heir to one of the richest fortunes in LA standing at the altar. That had taken courage, though his uncle and aunt's world had judged it differently.

Still, when he stepped out of the lift on the ground floor and saw the obese elderly man in baggy clothes standing near the reception desk, he felt the blood drain from his heart. How could they? How could they? Then, even as the opulent lobby with its long low lounges and glass-walled views of the city swayed sickeningly in his sight, the man hailed some people across the room and walked to join them.

Oh. So not him. That small relief, at least. For the moment.

His anxious gaze roved the groups of travellers, busy hotel staff, people queuing at the desks, and lighted on another unaccompanied man, this one tall and lean, dressed in a dark suit. He was standing by the entrance with his back to him, phone to his ear, jacket switched back at one side while his free hand rested on his hip. He was pacing backwards and forwards with a lithe, coiled energy, occasionally gesticulating with apparent impatience.

He turned suddenly in Shinichi's direction, then checked. His nerves jumped. He could tell he'd caught sight of him because the lines of his tall frame tensed, and even from this distance he could see him frown. He said something into his phone, then snapped it shut and slipped it inside his jacket.

Despite his moment of bravado, his stomach clenched.

He hesitated a moment, then walked across the wide lobby towards Shinichi, his frown smoothing away. Too late though, because he'd already seen it. As he drew nearer he saw, with a growing sense of unreality, that he was good-looking. A sleek, beautiful male. Athletically built, even in a suit. Why would he ever need to order in a partner?

He wasn't so old. Twenty one or two, nothing more than that. He might just be a nephew, or cousin. Perhaps he was mistaken, and he wasn't the one.

He halted at a couple of metres distance.

'You're Kudo Shinichi?'

His voice was deep and beautiful, but it was his eyes that held him. They were mesmerising, a dark glinting amethyst fringed by thick black lashes. They swept over him in a cool assessment, made cooler by the stern set of his mouth, but he could guess what they sought. Would he be a sufficient trophy?

He felt the proud colour rise to his cheeks. Anger and humiliation made his voice scrape in his throat. 'Yes. I'm Shinichi Kudo. And you are... ?'

Kaito heard the stiff tone and his expectations received instant confirmation. So, Kudo Shinichi, child of the Kudo shipbuilding dynasty and his potential partner, was as spoiled as he was rich. Despite his fury at the trap he found himself in, he felt a curious edge of anticipation as he examined his face for the first time. Whatever transpired, this might be the person he married.

His face was nothing like the one he'd once thought the ultimate in masculine beauty, but he could concede it had a symmetry. He could imagine how his sisters would have described it. Heart-shaped, with those cheekbones.

He had creamy skin with an almost satin translucence, and quite astonishing deep blue eyes, glittering now with some sort of emotion. his thin mouth was especially sensuous, somewhere between sweet and sulky. An alluring blend of sultriness and innocence, if he could believe that. A siren's mouth.

He could have been worse. If a man was blackmailed into marriage, whatever the failings that had brought the person to this point, he should at least look presentable.

He swept the rest of him with a judgemental gaze.

His hair was a darker brown, darker than it had been in the photo the magnate had posted, though his dusky eyebrows and lashes gave away its true colour. He supposed he was good looking, if a man happened to admire that particular face.

He was slightly smaller than he'd expected, though in his designer jeans and jacket his body appeared slim and, he had to admit, graceful, with a waist so slender he could span it with his hands.

As far as he knew anything about apparel he was dressed well, nothing flamboyant. Limited jewellery, though what he had was no doubt the finest money could buy.

He realised his pulse was pumping a little faster than the average. All right, so he was attractive with those eyes. He could afford to be. He seemed pale, perhaps he was nervous, but he cut any softer emotions that might have evoked.

He should be nervous. He'd be even more nervous when he understood the sort of man he'd had the gall to attempt to add to his acquisitions.

As the full picture sank in Kaito found his eyes needing to return to Shinichi's face.

His lungs tightened. Yes, certainly, it could have been worse.

' Kuroba Kaito,' he said finally, making a belated move to extend his hand.

Shinichi kept his at his side. Never to touch him, he resolved fiercely. Not if he could help it.

Kaito's brows twitched, and he knew he'd taken note of Shinichi's small rebuff. But he stayed as smooth as glass. 'Your uncle arranged that I should meet you and show you around Tokyo.'

'Oh,' he said softly. 'So it was you who was to meet me at the airport?'

His eyes glinted, then were almost immediately screened by his thick black lashes. 'I apologise for not managing to be there. Tuesdays are always demanding for my office and I'm afraid I got caught up. Still...' He smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes. 'I guessed you would be quite experienced in these matters.' Somehow his voice was the more cutting for being so gentle. He spread his hands. 'And here you are. Safe and sound, after all.'

What 'matters'? With a pang he wondered what Kaito heard about him. Would news of the wedding debacle have reached this distant shore? 'Experienced' was no innocuous word. Or did he assume Shinichi must be easy? Traded like a piece of livestock on a regular basis?

'No harm done,' he added.

Offhand, to say the least.

He thought of the morning he'd spent waiting for someone- any friendly face-at the airport, his agony of fear and indecision after the long trip and being tricked onto the plane. Praying that somehow, against all the odds, he'd misunderstood, and there would be a representative of the Kuroba family waiting with open arms to invite him into their warm family home. Worrying if he should take himself to the hotel, or run like the wind to some safe haven. Only what safe haven, when he was a stranger here?

The only vague knowledge he had of Japan, apart from his memories of his parents' home, remote flashes of that first little primary school, was the beach house his parents had taken him to for a visit with some distant relative of his mother's. He had no idea where it even was.

As an apology this didn't even rate. Had he been so reluctant to interrupt designing his satellites, or whatever he did? These days, did men expect their mail-order partner to deliver themselves to the door?

'I'm sorry you are dragged away from your worknow,' he said, equally gentle. 'Perhaps you would prefer to postpone this meeting.'

One thick black brow elevated. 'Not at all, Kudo-san. I am charmed to meet you now.'

The words were smooth, but uttered in a silky tone that conveyed a wall of ice inside that elegant dark navy suit and pale blue shirt, colours that perfectly enhanced the bronzed tones in his skin and his dark brown hair.

Then, paradoxically, as if his coldness had somehow stirred the male in him, his dark eyes made an involuntary flicker to his mouth, hooked there an instant too long.

Shinichi angled a little away, his blood pulsing, indignation struggling with his body's involuntary response to the disturbance in the atmosphere surrounding his body. Testosterone, no doubt. It was only natural he'd be thinking about him in terms of sex.

He pulled the edges of his jacket a little closer. 'I'm not sure what my uncle told you, Kuroba, but I came out here for a holiday. Nothing more than that.'

He considered him with an unreadable expression, then blasted any pretensions of innocence he might try to place on the situation.

'I'd have thought Gin would have been in a position to buy his nephew a bride or a groom from any of the grand houses in Los Angeles, Kudo-san.' His eyes swept over him again in a smouldering acknowledgement of his desirability. 'I'm surprised to have been so-honoured. And flattered, of course.'

The words blistered his sensibilities. He saw his eyes flare with a dark, dangerous emotion that wasn't anything like feeling flattered, or honoured, and shock jolted through him. The man was angry. Was he such a disappointment? He didn't want Kuroba to want him, but the insult sank deep, just the same.

But he mustn't let Kuroba see him as some toothless lion. He'd better learn he could defend himself.

'I'm surprised you could be bought, a man like you,' he mocked, though his voice trembled.

His eyes flashed. 'You'd better be sure you know what you've bargained for, Kudo-san. Tell me, once you have me shackled to your side, what do you hope to do with me then?'

Shinichi met his smouldering dark gaze, and tried to repress visions of lying naked beside him on some wide bed. Of being held in his arms, pressed against his lean, hard body, his violet eyes... But, he wouldn't... And he couldn't want to... he'd never...

He quickly thrust the images away. What could his uncle have promised on his behalf? With a helpless sense of shame, he scrambled to find some gloss to minimize the outrage Gin had committed against his autonomy.

'My uncle arranged this holiday simply so we could meet. That was all. Just so we could-meet. To see if we... To see if there would be any...' He felt the hot tide of embarrassment rise through his chest and neck and all the way to his ears, and, furious at his weakness, added hoarsely, 'There is no requirement for-for anything further. I'm a free man. This is the modern world.'

Kaito's chiseled, sexy mouth made a faint disbelieving curl, then he said very politely, 'Oh, right. Sure it is. But try to understand this, Kudo-san, I'm a serious guy. I'm not some racing-car celebrity or a prince with time on his hands between yacht races. I have a company to run. Some people choose to work, in case you haven't heard. I won't be able to devote myself to your entertainment twenty-four seven.'

He was so cold and unfriendly, all his hurt and tension, the fear and helplessness of the plane trip, the shock of the betrayal, wound him up to an emotional explosion. The fiery blood rushed to his head and he snapped, 'I'd rather you didn't devote yourself to me at all, Kuroba-san.'

He felt the shock impact of his words, then all at once had a burning consciousness of Kaito's gaze on his clasped, trembling hands, and tried to shift them from view. His loss of control had generated something, though, because he sensed a change in the air.

Kaito stared, for the first time seeing the shadows under his fierce blue eyes, the rapid, vulnerable pulse in his tender throat. With a sudden lurch in his chest he had a flash of himself as a brute holding some delicate, threatened creature at bay.

A creature with sensitivities, nerves and anxieties. He couldn't control the overpowering thought. A creature-a person who might soon be his to undress.

If he signed that contract.

His sulky mouth made a tremor, and against his will, against all the odds, his blood stirred. Hell, but he had a kissable mouth. An intensely kissable mouth.

Poised on an emotional tightrope, his defensive instincts up in arms, Shinichi sensed the tension emanating from him rock into a different sort of beat.

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So ... uhm .. what do you think people?

I would need a feedback from you.

Any types of feedback are welcome as long as they would help in improving my writing.

So there ! I fixed the typo errs :)

Please don't forget to Review this Chapter. Thank You!


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